Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Patti Smith, of course, was one of the many famous residents at Stanley Bard's Hotel Chelsea through the years, living with Robert Mapplethorpe in the early 1970s, and returning later in the 1990s as well.

Patti must not know that the person sponsoring her upcoming event, Joseph Chetrit, is the same developer who took Stanley Bard’s beloved Chelsea Hotel away from him and his family. And surely she is unaware that this is the same Joseph Chetrit whose demolition crews recently gutted over a hundred historic Chelsea Hotel rooms.

The blog notes that Chetrit is currently trying to evict some 30 Hotel residents.

Despite her insistence that she is not being remunerated for her involvement, we’re hard pressed to understand Smith’s motives. The resident we spoke to, who also happens to live on the same floor as Patti Smith’s old room (204, if you’re wondering), offered a theory: "Her room has remained completely intact, as a shrine to her career, while all the other rooms have been demolished."

10 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I looked at the invitation and down below it says it is only for residents of the hotel, so maybe that's why she is doing it? Maybe she wants to entertain the few old timers that are still holding on? I would love to hear what she has to say about this. I am wondering if there is some strategy behind her agreeing to do the show. Sometimes you can do more good from the inside, you know? Patti Smith is a pretty smart lady, so I find it hard to believe she would blindly do this show without a good reason.

$$$$ very often are a good reason. I'm not dismissing other theories, though I'm a tad skeptical. Why lend credibility to a bad landlord? The invitation has a certain slickness to it that seems more appropriate for an event at the Hotel Pierre.

Most of the old timers have conformed to the idea that we are a museum. I heard her say in an interview that if people wanted to do what she did that they shouldn't do it here. She said try Detroit or Poughkeepsie.

Also this Christmas I sat next to someones father and his wife. They told me all about Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe's relationship.

I would love to hear from the residents she will be performing for. We don't have the whole story. She must know a lot of them. Perhaps they asked her to do this. Patti has a lot of integrity so I am waiting to pass judgment until I hear her side of the story.

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